Why I want to help my competitors

Our most recent meeting was a wild success and the videos of all of the presentations will be online very soon at FMMA.org, there will also be an announcement of the location and dates of next year’s meeting.

The most meaningful and poignant part of the conference for me, was during remarks rendered by an orthopedic surgeon who is part of a surgery center that competes with the Surgery Center of Oklahoma. He described to the audience his shock that I was so willing to help him enter this free market movement. He described patients that were leaving his practice, his surgery center and his town, driving to Oklahoma City and coming to Surgery Center of Oklahoma to have their surgeries. His efforts to combat that basically consisted of a phone call to me, where I was as open-sourced as I could be and helped him come on board in this important and disruptive free market movement.

I was so glad that he relayed that story because that was the theme of the conference. There were people from 31 states at the conference. It was very exciting to hear all of the ideas and everyone was willing to share. Insights from Florida and insights from Pennsylvania, all nipping at the heels of those of us here in Oklahoma, who I think are still leading this movement. It was very interesting that everyone was very open-sourced and willing to share their insights and their experiences.

Contrast that if you will for a moment with what I’ve know is true for years. Hospitals in my area have signed contracts agreeing to participate with a payer, with the understanding that the Surgery Center of Oklahoma would be excluded. That is the way a cartel works, that is not a free market. What we saw at our conference was delightful, inspiring, wonderful and all consistent with the principles and discipline of the free market.

While we are all competitors, members of the Free Market Medical Association, we are not enemies. We know who the enemies are, they are the countless price-gougers all across the country, who I think have given some credence to this movement. Ultimately they will hopefully join this movement, whether drug there kicking and screaming or whether they do it because it is the right thing.

Check out our website at FMMA.org. This is a wonderful and growing organization and we welcome any and all who care to be members. Thank you.